This invention relates to a printing apparatus and printing system and, more particularly, to a printing apparatus which comprises an inkjet printhead, and a printing system using that printing apparatus.
Conventionally, a printer apparatus which comprises a non-volatile memory such as an EEPROM, flash memory, or the like, that stores individual information such as the operation state, operation history, production number, device ID, and the like of a printhead used in that printer apparatus, and control information such as print position correction information of a head carriage upon reciprocal printing and the like, is known.
For example, Japanese Patent Publication Laid-Open No. 5-309839 discloses a printer apparatus which stores information used to correct a mount error of a printhead, Japanese Patent Publication Laid-Open No. 8-224890 discloses a printer apparatus which stores time information elapsed after the previous recovery operation of a printhead, and Japanese Patent Publication Laid-Open No. 2000-35922 discloses a printer apparatus which stores control information of an ink residual amount, head cleaning time, the position of a printhead, a roll paper residual amount, and the like.
Also, Japanese Patent Publication Laid-Open No. 10-278360 discloses a printer apparatus in which a printhead unit comprises an EEPROM, and stores information such as the operation characteristics and the like of that printhead.
In case of a printer apparatus in which a printhead is not detachable from a printer apparatus main body and the printhead need not or cannot be exchanged, all of control information, characteristic information of the printhead, and the like can be stored in a single non-volatile memory together as in the above prior art. In this case, the physical mount position of the non-volatile memory can be either on the printer main body side or printhead side, as long as they can exchange information.
However, in a case where a printhead is detachable from a printer apparatus or various types of printheads can be exchangeably and selectively attached to satisfy various user""s purposes, characteristic information unique to a given printhead cannot be pre-stored in a non-volatile memory of the printer apparatus side, and control information or the like of the printer apparatus side cannot be stored in all non-volatile memories of individual printheads.
In such case, both the printer apparatus and printhead comprise non-volatile memories such as EEPROMs or the like to respectively hold necessary information.
However, such memories increase the cost of the overall printer apparatus accordingly. In the case of a disposable type of printhead, a non-volatile memory is also disposed every time the printhead is exchanged. This is not economical. Furthermore, even in the case of a printhead which is not of the disposable type but can be repetitively used by exchanging or refilling only ink (or an ink tank), since the lifetime of the printhead is normally much shorter than that of the printer apparatus main body, the printhead must be exchanged several times during the lifetime of the printer main body. This is also not economical as with the case of using the disposable type of printhead.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a low-cost, economical printing apparatus and printing system, in which only a printing apparatus main body comprises a non-volatile memory, which has been conventionally provided to both the printing apparatus main body and printhead, so as to unifiedly manage control information, characteristic information of a printhead, and the like.
According to one aspect of the present invention, the foregoing object is attained by providing a printing apparatus for printing on a printing medium using a printhead, comprising: an interface which is connected to a host and receives information from the host; a non-volatile memory for storing characteristic information of the printhead; discriminating means for discriminating whether or not a command sent from the host is a command including the characteristic information of the printhead; write control means for controlling to write the characteristic information of the printhead into the non-volatile memory in accordance with a discrimination result of the discriminating means; and printing control means for controlling the printhead to print in accordance with the characteristic information written into the non-volatile memory.
Note that the characteristic information preferably includes type information of the printhead, and the write control means controls to write the characteristic information of the printhead for each type of printhead.
The printhead is detachable from a printing apparatus main body, and a user can selectively attach a desired one of a plurality of types of printheads to the printing apparatus.
The discriminating means preferably includes means for receiving a command outputted from the host to which the characteristic information of the printhead indicated on the printhead or an accessory of the printhead in a format identifiable to human or an electronic device is inputted by man-machine interactive operation or the electronic device.
The printhead is an inkjet printhead for printing by discharging ink, and the inkjet printhead preferably comprises an electrothermal transducer for generating heat energy to be given to ink so as to discharge ink by utilizing the heat energy.
Furthermore, the non-volatile memory includes an EEPROM.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the foregoing object is attained by providing a printing system including the above-described printing apparatus, and a host connecting to the printing apparatus and capable of communicating with a second system via a network, the host comprising: input means for inputting individual information of a printhead indicated on the printhead or an accessory of the printhead in a format identifiable to human or an electronic device via man-machine interactive operation or the electronic device; retrieve means for accessing the second system via the network on the basis of the individual information of the printhead inputted by the input means, and retrieving characteristic information of the printhead corresponding to the individual information of the printhead; and transfer means for transferring the characteristic information of the printhead retrieved by the retrieve means to the printing apparatus.
Note that the network includes a LAN or Internet, and the individual information of the printhead can be a production number of the printhead.
The second system has a database in which information is retrievable via the network, and the database holds characteristic information of the printhead corresponding to the individual information of the printhead.
Note that the format identifiable to human is at least one of a digit and a character string, and the format identifiable to the electronic device is a barcode.
In a case where the characteristic information of the printhead is input by the man-machine interactive operation, at least one of a digit and a character string is preferably input to the host. In a case where the characteristic information is input from the electronic device, a barcode is preferably read by a barcode reader.
In accordance with the present invention as described above, the characteristic information of a printhead indicated on the printhead or its accessory in a format identifiable to human or an electronic device is input to a host by man-machine interactive operation or electronically by the electronic device. The printing apparatus discriminates whether or not a command sent from the host via an interface contains the characteristic information of the printhead, controls to write the characteristic information of the printhead in a non-volatile memory in accordance with the discriminating result, and controls the printhead to print.
The invention is particularly advantageous since a non-volatile memory for storing characteristic information is no longer required for a printhead unlike in the conventional apparatus.
In this way, a low-cost, economical printhead and printing apparatus can be provided.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters designate the same or similar parts throughout the figures thereof.